TVO Smart Kids Characters

Leo Burnett Toronto hired me to create a set of characters for their TVO Smart Kids campaign. TVO is a public television broadcaster that specializes in educational programming, and the campaign’s goal was to show the possibilites that open up to children when they have access to the right fundamentals — Smart Kids Now, Smart Adults Later.

I drew a group of ten base characters, and created fifty aspirational career variations for each character, including veterinarian, archeologist, astronaut, artist, and computer programmer, to name a few.

The resulting characters were featured in a large out-of-home subway poster and billboard campaign, press releases, a unique donation interface on the campaign website, and in television spots, in which real kids were interviewed, talking about what they want to be when they grow up.